Short Interest in Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) Drops By 5.8%

Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 12,900,000 shares, a drop of 5.8% from the January 15th total of 13,700,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days. Currently, 10.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Community Health Systems

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CYH. Signaturefd LLC purchased a new stake in Community Health Systems in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its position in shares of Community Health Systems by 250.0% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,023 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 6,445 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC purchased a new position in Community Health Systems in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Cibc World Markets Corp acquired a new stake in Community Health Systems in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Community Health Systems by 32.1% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961 shares during the last quarter. 84.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Community Health Systems from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $5.00 to $2.50 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com cut shares of Community Health Systems from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Raymond James lowered Community Health Systems from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Community Health Systems from $3.00 to $5.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Community Health Systems from $5.00 to $3.50 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Community Health Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $4.52.

Community Health Systems Price Performance

NYSE:CYH opened at $3.35 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.29. Community Health Systems has a 1-year low of $2.51 and a 1-year high of $6.29. The firm has a market cap of $464.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.11 and a beta of 1.63.

Community Health Systems (NYSE:CYH) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.09 by ($0.51). On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Community Health Systems will post -0.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Community Health Systems

Community Health Systems, Inc owns, leases, and operates general acute care hospitals in the United States. It offers general acute care, emergency room, general and specialty surgery, critical care, internal medicine, obstetrics, diagnostic, psychiatric, and rehabilitation services, as well as skilled nursing and home care services.